PHH installs new monitoring equipment

Posted: Friday, November 11, 2016

Streamlining the amount of equipment that can clutter a patient room is a concern for hospitals. A recent upgrade of patient vital sign monitoring now allows Parkview Huntington Hospital caregivers to spend more time interacting with their patients instead of wrangling equipment.

The hospital has installed PHILIPS® SureSigns® VS4 monitors in 26 patient rooms, along with five rooms in the Emergency Department and four in the Medical Infusion Unit. Clinical leaders had identified new monitors as a high-priority need, and the state-of-the-art units were purchased through donor giving to the Parkview Huntington Foundation.

“The foundation board was pleased to be able to provide this equipment,” said Mike Perkins, director, Parkview Huntington Foundation. “And it was the enthusiastic support of donors to the annual Employee Generosity Campaign and to Parkview Huntington Connect that made this gift possible. These monitors represent one of the most significant contributions the foundation has yet made to enhance hospital operations and the excellent care our staff already provides to patients.”

The programmable units track blood pressure, blood oxygen levels and pulse and body temperature. Having the monitors in place at the bedside at all times: Saves time - nurses and patient care technicians don’t need to search for mobile monitoring units that can be in heavy demand on days when the patient census is high. Eliminates commotion - wheeling a mobile machine into the room from some other location can be noisy and disruptive. Facilitates more immediate care - the nurse or patient care tech is able to walk into the room and simply attach the monitor lead to the patient and focus immediately on his or her condition. Creates a record easily accessible to caregivers - staff members can check previous readings by scrolling back through the patient’s recorded vital signs.

If a patient’s vital signs must be taken at very specific intervals (three times per hour, for instance) due to ongoing changes in a patient’s condition, the monitors can be programmed to check vital signs at those intervals, even if the nurse cannot be present at that exact time because he or she is attending to another patient.

“The monitors have only been in place a short time, but our clinical staff is already finding greater efficiencies in the process of assessing patients and obtaining vital signs,” said Doug Selig, BSN, RN, MBA, LSSBB, vice president, Patient Care Services, Parkview Huntington Hospital.

Shown in the photo is registered nurse Lisa Hunt as she takes a patient’s vital signs with one of the new state-of-the-art monitors installed recently at Parkview Huntington Hospital. The new monitors represent one of the most significant contributions Parkview Huntington Foundation has made for the enhancement of hospital operations, thanks to generous donor gifts through the foundation.